NORTH RUSTICO - Replacing the Building Canada infrastructure plan when it ends in 2014 dominated the Federation of Prince Edward Island Municipalities semi-annual meeting here Saturday.
Karen Leibovici, president of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, discussed challenges facing long term infrastructure during the meeting, which saw approximately 90 officials from municipalities across the province attend.
Municipalities are facing uncertainty when it comes to what infrastructure funding will be put in place when the plan ends, she said.
"It's of great concern to municipalities because we are responsible for providing 60 per cent of the infrastructure in this country," Leibovici said.
He noted the federation has been working with the federal and provincial governments "to put together a proposal for a plan to replace the Build Canada Fund."
The $33 billion Building Canada plan was launched in 2007.
David Marit, chair of the federation's rural caucus and president of the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities, also presented with Leiobovici on the issue.
Marit said rural development needs to be recognized with assistance from both federal and provincial levels.
"Canada is an exporting nation," said Marit. "It's making sure we have the infrastructure for Canada to be competitive globally as we move forward, and for smaller communities to be able to do these projects."
The meeting also saw Gordon Garrison, policing services manager for P.E.I., give an overview of policing in the province.
Chris LeClair, a senior strategy advisor with McInnes Cooper, also gave a presentation on the effects of federal job cuts on P.E.I. municipalities.
Destroying us as a province is not the answer. Government corruption is rampant among all the provinces. Your proposal would merely make PEI a small suburb of the mainland, a small part of a still corrupt larger province. What we need to do as Islanders is to eliminate the cause of the patronage and graft, namely the political parties. Divide PEI into 12 or 13 districts, and have each district elect a representative who is independent to represent them. The government then works as a "consensus Government" that uses a polling system to continually ask Islanders what they think about situations.